Kyoto and Nara

Met our driver Akira at 9am in the lobby. We decided to make the most of our day and hired a guide to take us to the temples, shrines and the Deer Park in Nara that we wanted to see, rather than waste time working out how to get to each. A good call as today was a public holiday and a lot of crowds were out. Akira was able to guide us through the day expertly with his inside knowledge. We first had breakfast- important to ensure no one (aka Ted) was hungry as we started. I’d read about this cafe near the Fushimi Inari Shrine. A delicious feast in a tranquil cafe overlooking a pond - except it was too cold to eat outside. Akira then took us through the surrounds of this incredible shrine, stretching up to a high point where the very first original Torii (the orange T-shaped, gate-like structures) built by farmers, established in 711AD! We then drove about 50mins to Nara. I also ignorantly learned that shrines are for the Shinto religion and the temples for the Buddhist religion. Nara was the first capital of Japan, followed by Kyoto and now Tokyo. We first visited the Todaiji Temple - the biggest temple in Japan, it was huge with a 15m Buddha inside. We are in the surrounds pf the Deer Park and saw many deer on our walk to the temple. We got some food to feed the deer and if you do it correctly they will bow at you for food. We tried to capture this in the video 🤣. We stopped for lunch and then made our way back to Kyoto to the last sight for the day at the Sanjūsangendō Temple (of 1,001 Buddhas). This is the longest temple in Japan. It needed to be to fit 500 buddhas on each side of the large statue of Buddha Kannon. All the Buddhas are hand carved out of wood. The surrounding gardens were also beautiful and you see where the zen like gardens originated from. Back to the hotel for a relax before dinner. I wandered off to the Nishiki markets for a stroll and enjoyed meandering. We met in the lobby for dinner an wandered to a recommended ramen place. As is often the case case, you can’t predict the queue or what the place is like. It looked great, except there was a line. We kept wandering and it was Liv’s choice tonight and she found us a great Japanese bbq restaurant and everyone enjoyed it. Liv and Ted went to fond chocolate strawberries and Pete and I discovered a new bar before retiring to the hotel to watch the Winter Olympics. A great last day in Kyoto.Read more